Quad Partners and Pacific College Partnership

Quad Partners and Pacific College Partnership

In 2008, Pacific College entered into a partnership with Quad Partners. This has sparked a lot of interest, as well as questions from Pacific’s holistic health community. To answer some of these questions, we sat down with Pacific College President Jack Miller and Quad Partners General Partner Daniel Neuwirth to explore the result of the partnership to date, and what’s in store for the future.

First off: Who is Quad Partners?

Quad Partners is a small, unique firm based in New York City that provides growth capital and operational assistance solely to education institutions. Perhaps their approach is best explained from the source. As Dan Neuwirth says, “Our strategy is to invest in small and mid-sized educational institutions with significant strengths, then apply the educational expertise of our principals to help college directors achieve their accreditation or growth goals while maintaining or improving academic results.” The Quad team is a mix of educators, administrators, and investors, and includes Thomas H. Kean, the former Governor of New Jersey, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, and the President of Drew University.

Quad is focused 100% on the education industry. Within this arena, their interests are broad. For example, they have made or evaluated potential investments in:

Career-oriented postsecondary schools

K-12 proprietary schools

Early education and childcare

Core and supplemental curriculum

Tutoring and after-school programs

Educational consumer products and services

Professional education and journals

Corporate training and knowledge management

Online learning

Quad is currently partnering with Pacific College, as well as with Beckfield College, Star Career Academy, Dorsey Schools, Stratford School, and Swedish Institute: College of Health Sciences. For a complete listing of current partnerships see here.

Why did Pacific College choose to partner with Quad Partners?

President Miller’s vision for Pacific College has always been about educational excellence in holistic medicine and providing greater opportunities for students.

“After 20 years at the helm of Pacific College, I saw dramatic changes happening in higher education,” Miller said, “I believed I needed to secure additional partners for the school who were extremely experienced in the issues of accreditation, government regulation, marketing, and distance education. Whenever I asked about firms that were committed to higher education, Quad Partners were always at the top of everyone’s list.”

The enthusiasm goes both ways; Quad was equally excited about Pacific College .

“Let me first say that, in additional to Pacific College, there are a number of excellent Oriental medicine colleges across the country,” Neuwirth said, “We were drawn to Pacific College because of its reputation and the quality and depth of its faculty and alumni. Jack Miller, its president, has wonderful vision and passion and we were thrilled to be invited to partner with him.”

A unique quality about Quad is that they don’t just choose to work with any company. They are specifically focused on educational institutions, and Neuwirth explains why:

“I hope this doesn’t sound corny, but I wanted to be able to look back on my career and feel like I helped create something meaningful that impacted someone’s life in a positive way. To me, helping to build really high-quality schools was an ideal way to do that. I know my colleagues feel the same. Maybe I saw Dead Poet’s Society too many times as a kid.”

It was Neuwirth’s dedication to education and helping institutions like Pacific College that first drew Miller to Quad.

So, what exciting developments is Quad helping to bring to Pacific College?

There have been many positive changes at Pacific College since partnering with Quad including: the hiring of Deans of Students Services and Deans of the massage programs, as well as additional support staff; financial aid for the massage students; the beginning of the WASC regional accreditation process; and increased paid time for faculty work outside the classroom, along with increased benefits and performance bonuses for administrative staff.

“The list is long and everything has been positive,” Miller said, “Quad is a significant resource for us to achieve our long-held goals. With their experience and knowledge, many of our desired improvements can come to fruition."

One of the most recent developments has been the distance education initiative. Pacific College eventually hired Quad’s Director of Distance Education, Malcolm Youngren, as New York’s new campus director, when Gina Lepore left to pursue her interests in finance and information technology.

“Malcolm is super bright, personable, and in tune with our medicine. The fit was perfect.” Miller said, “Now we have an expert in distance education as part of our daily work team.”

Distance Education (DE) merges the wisdom and experience of Pacific’s faculty and curriculum with technology to make holistic education more widely available and more interesting. You may have already experienced this at Pacific Symposium. The November 2012 conference was available for the first time as a live streaming Internet event. Those who were not able to attend Pacific Symposium in person were able to tune in to lectures online. “This is just a small taste of the distance education and web-enhanced educational resources we’ll be implementing in upcoming months and years,” Miller said.

Pacific College is also in the process putting Symposium video archives onto the web and making them eligible for CEUs. An alumni who may have only been 5 years old when the presentation was originally given may now get CEU credit for it.

As you see, 2013 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the Pacific College community. If you have any questions about Quad Partners or if you’re interested in learning more about upcoming opportunities or developments, feel free to contact Pacific College President Jack Miller at JMiller@pacificcollege.edu.

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